TORONTO – Blue Ant Media announced today it has acquired Media Pulse, “the exclusive connected TV (CTV) marketplace in Canada which delivers measurable advertising strategies and enhanced revenue opportunities for both media buyers and publishers,” a press release says.
Media Pulse has a focus on aggregating and curating popular, broad and niche connected TV apps, platforms and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPD).
The company’s “CTV exchange is powered by Column6, an ad platform built for advanced CTV publishers across the Americas,” the release explains. “In addition to Media Pulse, Blue Ant Media uses Column6 for CTV ad serving and ad break management for some of its FAST channel inventory.”
Media Pulse is seeing “2.2 billion advertising impressions per month across CTV devices from its many direct-to-publisher relationships,” according to the release. “The number of CTV viewers is growing rapidly in Canada, providing advertisers with a significant opportunity to reach audiences. In 2023, eMarketer reports CTV ad spending will surpass C$1 billion, up almost sevenfold from five years ago.”
The acquisition allows Blue Ant Media to broaden its “capabilities and expertise in the Canadian media arena, enabling them to offer advertisers and agencies across the country access to a full range of platforms to build profile on CTV and free, ad-supported streaming (FAST) services, via direct sales or programmatically,” the press release says.
“Media Pulse will join Blue Ant Media’s existing advertiser offering, which includes targeted and customizable advertising solutions across its broadcast, print and digital brands such as T+E, Cottage Life, MobileSyrup and Animalogic. In the future, the acquisition of Media Pulse will open up further opportunities across Blue Ant Media’s wider business, including the company’s award-winning content studio Blue Ant Plus, which specializes in branded storytelling and content, enabling them to provide turn-key productions to agencies and clients in the CTV environment.”
Media Pulse will operate as a stand-alone entity under the Blue Ant Media umbrella. Christopher Law (above left; founder and CEO of Media Pulse) and Deborah Gurofsky (right; co-founder and vice-president of strategy at Media Pulse) will continue to lead the company – Law as managing director and Gurofsky as vice-president of partnerships. They will report to Mitch Dent, senior vice-president of media sales and group publisher at Blue Ant Media.
“The acquisition of Media Pulse underpins Blue Ant Media’s commitment to the CTV marketplace in Canada, which is undoubtedly the fastest growing media segment for advertiser investment,” said Dent, in the release.
“We’ve been monitoring Media Pulse’s trajectory for a while, and their solid reputation and expertise make them the perfect partner for us to expand Blue Ant’s media sales portfolio. With Christopher and Deborah on board, we now have the capacity to enhance Blue Ant’s multi-channel campaign efforts for our clients, offering them a one-stop-shop of premium CTV inventory at scale.”
“We are excited with this acquisition as Blue Ant Media is uniquely positioned to provide Media Pulse a superior infrastructure and environment for accelerated growth,” said Law. “Blue Ant’s assets will supercharge Media Pulse’s growth via connections with broadcast, digital, ad sales, Blue Ant Plus, etc. These resources and support will extend Media Pulse’s capabilities significantly, offering a greater ability to service our clients with the high-touch and custom approach we are known for in the connected television marketplace.”
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Photos provided by Blue Ant Media.
